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FBI, SEC Nab Pair Using Gmail To Run Insider-Trading Scam; Undercover Agents Responded To Offer To Sell Disney Earnings Report
So, you want to use Google’s free Gmail service to pull off a scam? From this day forward you should not be confident that you’re not already caught. The FBI today announced that it set up a sting to nail two people who were trying to sell the quarterly earnings report of Walt Disney Co. before [...]
ONLINE PONZI FORUM BOMBSHELL: Matt Gagnon A ‘Danger To The Investing Public,’ SEC Says; Federal Judge Freezes Assets Of Mazu.com Pitchman Who Promoted Legisi, Other Alleged Scams
Ponzi forum operator or moderator? Online HYIP aficionado? Think you’re safe pitching fraud schemes because you’re “only” a promoter or forum “expert” and not the operator of the programs? Have a secret partnership deal with an HYIP fraudster? Using fancy, professional-sounding terms such as “due diligence” in your forum posts? Claiming you’ve done thorough research [...]
Feds, State Team Up In Virginia To Short-Circuit White-Collar Crime Wave; ‘All Too Clear’ Problem National In Scope, Top Federal Prosecutor Says
Calling it an “unprecedented partnership” brought about by a financial-fraud problem that is national in scope, federal and state officials today announced the creation of the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force. The Virginia Task Force, which is part of President Obama’s interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, brings together criminal investigators and civil [...]
Debit-Card Firm Spotlighted In Purported Training Material For Minnesota-Based INetGlobal Was Referenced In $22 Million Ponzi Case In Florida Last Year; Renner Company Now Has Link To Third Ponzi Court Scrape
Training material purportedly produced in November 2009 and published online shows prospects of INetGlobal how to transfer money from the company to a reloadable debit card. The presentation reveals that INetGlobal was using the same debit-card firm that provided services for a Florida man implicated in October 2009 — just a month before the INetGlobal [...]
THE MODERN PONZI: Federal Judge Orders Parties Not To ‘Harass’ Receiver In Mantria/Speed Of Wealth Case; Dozens Of Companies Now Ensnared In Litigation
A federal judge has issued an order that effectively puts a court-appointed receiver in control of dozens of entities related to Mantria Corp. and Speed of Wealth LLC in a search for “recoverable assets.” One of the receiver’s duties is to determine if fraudulent transfers occurred between or among companies, according to the order. The [...]
Is Trevor Cook Lying To Ponzi Investigators In $190 Million Case After Accepting Plea Deal? Investors Say Story Too Incredible To Believe
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the investors in the Trevor Cook/Pat Kiley Ponzi scheme in Minnesota say they believe Cook is lying to investigators about the whereabouts of assets and perhaps other elements of the probe. “We do not believe this much money could be totally lost in such a short period of time,” an investor [...]
SPECIAL REPORT: SEC Says Detroit Pension Funds Looted By Outside Manager, Used-Car Dealer; Agency Alleges Elaborate Fraud Into Which Millions Dumped Into Firms That Financed High-Risk Loans In Metro Atlanta
EDITOR’S NOTE: The story below is about a compelling case in which nearly $16 million in public-pension funds from the Detroit area allegedly ended up in the control of an Atlanta-area, used-car dealership that operates in a business segment commonly known in the auto trade as “buy here, pay here.” Research shows that the dealership [...]
BULLETIN: Another Spectacular Florida Ponzi Case Emerging; Nevin K. Shapiro Charged Criminally, Civilly In Alleged $900 Million Fraud
BULLETIN: Nevin K. Shapiro, the founder and president of Capitol Investments USA Inc., surrendered to authorities this morning after being charged both criminally and civilly in an alleged $900 million Ponzi and fraud scheme in south Florida and elsewhere, the SEC said. Shapiro, 41, is a prominent Miami Beach businessman and philanthropist in the wholesale [...]
FINRA/SEC Move Against New York Firm; Second Major Case In 24 Hours; Clients Suspect Colossal Ponzi Fraud At McGinn, Smith & Co.
Another investigation into allegations of spectacular financial fraud is under way in New York. The case against McGinn, Smith & Co. of Albany is the second to rock the state in the past 24 hours. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) filed a complaint against the company and its president David L. Smith yesterday. The [...]
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook, Minnesota Ponzi Scheme Figure, Pleads Guilty In $190 Million Fraud Case
BULLETIN: (UPDATED 12:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Trevor G. Cook, implicated in a $190 million Ponzi scheme that pushed tremendous sums of money all over the world and is believed to have fleeced investors out of at least $139 million, has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Minnesota. No sentencing date has been sent. [...]
Another Fraud Case In Minnesota: Renee Marie Brown Accused By SEC Of Starting ‘Sham’ Investment Fund Known As ‘X’
UPDATED 7:52 A.M. EDT (April 13, U.S.A.) On the very day Tom Petters was sentenced in Minnesota to 50 years in prison for operating a colossal Ponzi scheme, a federal judge froze the assets of Renee Marie Brown after the SEC accused her of ripping off clients by persuading them to invest in a mysterious [...]
RECEIVER: Cook/Kiley Ponzi ‘Incredible Tragedy’; Some Investors ‘Destitute’; Management So Screwed Up That Historic Van Dusen Mansion Was Not Insured; Assets ‘Sent All Over The World’
EDITOR’S NOTE: As is the case with other Ponzi schemes, the alleged Trevor Cook/Pat Kiley scheme in Minnesota is proving to be an incredible paper chase that is consuming hundreds of hours of manpower as attorneys, investigators and support staff work to reverse-engineer what authorities say was an epic, international fraud. Want to be a [...]
NEWS/UPDATES: Feds Charge Donald Young In Massive Ponzi In Pennsylvania; Matthew Pizzolato Pleads Guilty In Louisiana; Jeffrey Mowen Loses Cars In Utah; ‘Today’ Show Interviews Daughter Who Turned In Mom For Ponzi
A grand jury has returned an indictment against a suburban Philadelphia man, accusing him of operating a Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $95 million and fleeced investors of more than $25 million. Charged criminally with mail fraud and money-laundering was Donald Anthony Young, who also has been sued by the SEC. Meanwhile, Matthew Pizzolato [...]
Sean Healy Sentenced To Nearly 16 Years, Ordered To Pay $16.7 Million In Ponzi Case; Meanwhile, Trevor Cook Reportedly Has Plea Deal
A federal judge has ordered a Florida man to spend nearly 16 years in prison and pay $16.7 million in restitution for fleecing investors in a Ponzi scheme. Sean Healy, 39, of Weston, scammed dozens of investors in Pennsylvania. He went on to live in the lap of luxury in Florida, acquiring a $2.4 million [...]
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook Charged Criminally With Mail Fraud And Tax Evasion In Alleged $190 Million Ponzi Case In Minnesota
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook, the reputed head of a $190 million Ponzi scheme in Minnesota, has been charged criminally with mail fraud and income-tax evasion. Cook, 37, previously had been charged civilly by the SEC and the CFTC. The criminal charges filed today came after a probe by the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit, [...]
ALERT: International Con Artists Target Madoff Victims; Regulatory Agencies, Receiver In Cook/Kiley Ponzi Case Go On Guard For Copycats
An individual or group of individuals believed to be operating internationally created a website that mimicked the website of the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) “in an apparent attempt to target [Bernard] Madoff victims” in a fraud scheme, SIPC said. SIPC and the SEC issued warnings immediately, as did the court-appointed receiver in the [...]
Spokesman For Renner-Related Company Did Not Disclose Tie In Opinion Piece That Attacked Star-Tribune Newspaper; Name Is Referenced In Secret Service Affidavit; Declines To Answer Questions From PP Blog
UPDATED 2:25 P.M. ET (March 2, U.S.A.) The vice president and director of public relations for V-Newswire — a company in Steve Renner’s INetGlobal family — authored an opinion piece lambasting a Minnesota newspaper’s coverage of a Secret Service raid at INetGlobal’s Minneapolis offices last week on his personal Blog, but did not disclose his [...]
ANOTHER FLORIDA FRAUD CONVICTION: Michael J. Muzio Ran ‘Pump-And-Dump’ Scheme In Case Tied To Ponzi And Affinity-Fraud Scheme Targeting Haitian-Americans
A Florida man implicated in a pump-and-dump scheme tied to a Ponzi- and affinity-fraud scheme has been convicted and faces decades in federal prison. Michael J. Muzio, 46, of Tampa, was convicted on six counts of securities fraud, two counts of substantive wire fraud, two counts of lying to the SEC and the FBI and [...]
Former Attorney Sentenced To 99 Years In Prison For Ponzi Scheme; Edward S. Digges Jr. Was Recidivist Offender
A Texas jury has thrown the book at Edward S. Digges Jr., sentencing the Collin County man to 99 years in prison for fleecing 130 investors in a securities-fraud and Ponzi scheme. Digges, 63, formerly was an attorney in Annapolis, Md. He was disbarred in an overbilling scheme, convicted of mail fraud in 1990 and [...]
